Hiv infection is caused by a retrovirus....This retrovirus binds to CD4 cells (for the most part). You may detect the virus by several different methods. An elisa test (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay). You may also detect it by doing a test referred to as a western blot (a gel protein electrophoresis). Thirdly by pcr (polymerase chain reaction) which actually detects individual viruses.
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2

Depends...:
The answer depends.... If you are talking about symptoms of acute hiv, these may occur within 2 to 4 weeks of infection and include fever, rash, sore throat, headaches. Not everyone gets the symptoms of acute hiv. If you are talking about symptoms of HIV associated with more advanced disease, then usually this may take a few years before seeing symptoms like weight loss, fevers, night sweats.
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3

Find out!:
In today's world, although there is no "cure" , the current available medications turn the disease from the death sentence it was 20 years ago into a chronic disease like high blood pressure that can be managed. Most of my patients, indeed almost all, have little if any problems from their HIV infection itself or the meds.
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5

Be safe.:
Hiv is the human immunodeficiency virus. This virus causes the medical condition / syndrome known as aids (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Hiv is spread by sharing body fluids. Spread can be prevented by always having only 'safe/protected' sex with condoms and spermicidal lubricants. Spread can also happen by contaminated needles in injection drug use. Never use a non-sterile needle.
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6

Fatigue:
Early HIV symptoms occur about one month after infection. These can include: fever, headache, fatigue, swollen lymph glands, and rash. These early HIV symptoms often disappear after another month and can be mistaken for those of other viral infections. Early infected persons can be very infectious. More persistent symptoms of HIV infection may not appear for several years after the infection.
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8

Body fluid contact:
HIV is only transmitted by direct contact with body fluids (blood, semen, NOT saliva). Penetration intercourse (vaginal, anal) with someone who is HIV+ is risky whether on the "giving" or "receiving" end. Sharing needles for injection drugs is also high risk. The US blood supply is 100% safe and no longer a risk.
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10

Not really:
A full blood count, has a variety of different tests that are performed as part of it, but an HIV test is not a standard one. You have to give permission to have an HIV test. However, the lymphocytes may be low, and if a differential count is done, may show low cd4 or cd8 counts, which may suggest the diagnosis.
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Infections are invasions of some other organism (fungus, bacteria, parasite) or viruses into places where they do not belong. For instance, we have normal gut bacteria that live within us without causing problems; however, when those penetrate the bowel wall and enter the bloodstream, that is an infection.
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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids), [1][2] a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
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